Long haul insurance sales up
0 commentsRecent research carried out by swiftcover.com has revealed that long-haul travel insurance sales are up. Currently 25% of travel policies sold by Swiftcover are for long haul trips compared to just 20% five years ago.
Consumers were questioned about their travel aspirations and 23% revealed that a tropical island would be their dream destination, with others favouring round-the-world cruises, off-the-beaten-track destinations such as China and India, ancient ruins like Machu Pichu in Peru and African safaris. Others would prefer a more active dream holiday with white-water rafting, motor racing, parachute jumping and rock climbing appearing on the wish list.
Roman Bryl, Swiftcover’s travel underwriting manager, stressed that as holiday makers venture further afield the need for adequate insurance cover becomes more important than ever. Not only is it paramount to ensure that your policy covers destinations outside Europe but also that it will cover potentially expensive medical treatment should your adventure go wrong.
Swiftcover has discovered that there are various misapprehensions amongst travellers about insurance and they have published advice clarifying many of the more common myths. Full details are available on the insurers’ website but can be summarised in a nutshell as follows:
- If you have a pre-existing medical condition you must tell your insurer
- If your holiday is cancelled before you go you should make the airline, travel agent or tour operator your first port of call for a refund or alternative arrangements
- Some insurers will cover you for volcanic ash and strikes but not all
- Even if you have insurance you still need to take reasonable care of your possessions to avoid invalidating your cover
- Do not be fooled into thinking that your credit card will provide the same level of insurance cover as a travel policy
- Not all sports are covered as standard on a travel policy so check before deciding to do that dream bungee jump
- In order to get free or reduced-cost health care in the EU you will need an EHIC card which is available free of charge before you leave the UK
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